Former Fenwick MD David Walker-Smith joins House of Fraser

David Walker-Smith, the former managing director of Fenwick and buying & merchandising director of Selfridges, has joined House of Fraser in the position of chief product and trading officer.

Walker-Smith, who stood down from Fenwick last March will take up his new role on 12 March. He replaces Maria Hollins who had been with House of Fraser for two years, having previously been product and trading director at ASOS. She left House of Fraser last month to pursue new opportunities.

For the past year Walker-Smith, who spent three years at Fenwick and prior to that 16 years at Selfridges, has been advising luxury retailers. House of Fraser CEO Alex Williamson said he had “a stellar retail, buying and merchandising career to date.”

“Our ability to attract an individual of David‘s calibre is a real testament to our ambitions for growth in the UK. David’s appointment adds additional strength to our leadership team and he will play an instrumental role in delivering key elements of the Transformation Programme,” Williamson added.

The department store is undergoing a programme to place experience at the centre of its stores and to differentiate its offer through the development of its own brands, which Walker-Smith will oversee as well as finding and building commercial opportunities and brand partnerships.

Lauretta Roberts is managing director and Editor-in-Chief of The Industry, having acquired the business along with business partner Antony Hawman in July 2015. She is also the former director of brand & propositions of trend forecaster WGSN and a former editor of Drapers magazine.

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